Weary Dreams
by Celine Janeway
Summary: Regina must venture to hell to save Emma after she takes her place and dies on a battlefield. SwanQueen


Lightening crashed, made contact with the Earth and she disappeared before Regina's eyes. Not a body without life but nothing, every piece of her was gone. Every precious piece vanished before her . She was the one who should have been dead. Regina was in the line of fire and should have been well on her way to an after life but Emma, that cunning beauty, had said the four words that changed everything. _I'll take her place. _The meadow was silent, not even the crackle of left over electricity. She looked to each side of her where Ogres had surrounded them both and a battle had been waging but now it was just her, Snow and Charming came running from the other end of the meadow, having seen the lightening flash, begging for an explanation.

Regina didn't even realize she had been running until her breath caught in her chest and she was heaving for reprieve from her taxing pace. She only knew where she had to go to get answers to unanswerable questions. His castle hadn't changed in centuries, the same bricks laid out and the same massive heavy doors to enter. She didn't even bother knocking, he probably already knew she was on her way. Snow and Charming kept up the rear.

"Don't take another step. I can't help you." Rumpelstiltskin lurked in the wings of the staircases that lined the back wall of the Grand Hall. He was a master of secrets and he had a certain style; he liked to keep everyone else in the dark.

"Where is she?" Regina's face glowed red from sweat and exertion "Don't tell me you have no idea where she is."

"No I know where Emma Swan is but I can't bring her back." Rumple stepped fully into the light and crossed his arms.

"What have you done with her?" Snow interrupted furiously.

"What makes you thing this had anything to do with me?" Rumple's voice was high pitched and whimsical.

"One minute we are fighting side by side and I feel the slice of a sword through my side but I don't feel pain instead Emma screams then whispers 'Ill take her place' blood coming from the very spot on her where I was stabbed. How is that even possible?!" Regina was closer to Rumple now.

"I assumed your mother explained the concept of death to you, dearie" He leaned on the stair railing.

"There has to be a body for death, you bastard. You're suppose to be a great seer, what is going on? Or are you behind this? Mysteriously absent on the battle ground you should have been at."

"I'm a lover, not a fighter. Besides what interest do you have in Emma's well being anyway? Last time I checked you were two steps down from sworn enemies." He lifted his hands to his chin and intertwined his fingers patiently waiting for her reply.

"We've all come a long way and now our common enemies are the Ogres. Things aren't the way they were in Storybrooke or before. Now we are on the same page." Charming surprisingly came to Regina's defense

"You are staling Rumple, tell us what you know." Regina said. It wasn't lost on him how she sidestepped the question and was relieved at Charming's interruption.

"Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time...that's always my favorite part." He snickered

"Get to the point." Regina rubbed her forehead.

"No respect for the dramatic. Though if I remember correctly you always had a flare for it. Back to the story. A young, lets call her a maiden, gave a part of her soul to a dark spirit in exchange for a spell. This spell was dark magic that could only work with the help of the heart of someone with light magic. The spell was one of a kind and could only be used involuntarily when her heart willed it."

"What the hell does this have to do with Emma?" Regina continued to raise her voice.

"You always were terrible at listening. Before the battles began, Emma came to me on her own accord. I was swore to secrecy though that doesn't much matter now. She asked for my help. She knew you and her family would be fighting and she wanted to ensure all your safety. I gave her an option but one that she didn't have conscious control over. To love a secret, to hold it where even you can't see it.

" Rumple made his statement theatrically.

"Rumple! Stop speaking in riddles! Where is my daughter?" Snow began to lose her patience.

"Clearly, you aren't a literary scholar. I'll put it in kindergarden terms. She took a potion that would allow her heart the chance to save one person if given the chance. Her heart, as we know now, chose Regina." Rumple waited for the expected onslaught of emotions from the clan.

"Why would she chose, Regina? That doesn't make any sense and why would she want to sacrifice herself in the first place?!" The tip of Snow's nose grew red as the tears pooled in her eyes.

"Can she be saved?" Regina was unsure of her own emotions.

"About time you asked. Yes but only by the one who her heart chose. So I believe that leaves you, Your Majesty. Though it'll put you in grave danger and I feel it is only fair to warn you ,no one has ever succeeded before."

"I thought you said it was a unique potion? Where is she?" Regina grew impatient.

" So you were listening. Her soul took the place of yours."

"Which means?"

"She's in hell. More specifically your hell, the one crafted of your own making." Rumple's eyes turned darker. Regina didn't scoff and wasn't taken over by disbelief, she knew that such a place existed and though she should be terrified her only concern was Emma.

"Take me to her."

"Why would I want to venture there with you?"

"Because you have some sort of stake in this or you wouldn't have given her the potion in the first place."

"Clever, but this isn't worth my life. However I will accompany you via this." He handed her a small hand held mirror, embellished with the crest of her family. "You can have two requests and no more."

"What's your price?"

"This one is on the house, mainly because I want to see how it ends"

"We're coming with you." Snow jumped up.

"No, she must go alone!" Rumple was overly insistent.

"How exactly do I get to the depths of hell?" Regina said without sarcasm.

" A sleeping curse."

"So to save her I msut choose a death of my own?"

"Now you're catching on." The corners of Rumples mouth curved up and a genuine smile graced his features.

XXXXX

The cool air of the fall entered the drafty space of the castle. The guest room she found herself in was decorated with a sultan in mind, draped with gold and godly fixtures at every turn. Regina didn't give herself much time to consider the consequences of her actions let alone realize if she were to fail it would leave Henry a true orphan but then again thinking consequences through was hardly Regina's forte. The bedding was silken and the comforter was thick for the coming winter months. Knowing Rumple, he had a sleeping curse on hand and was more than willing to give it to Regina.

"I have no reason to trust you. For all I know you have Emma and are using this to get rid of me once and for all." Regina stood with her arm crossed next to the canopy bed.

"Have you ever had a reason to trust me? Yet you've always made it out of your dilemmas alive." He was short with his words giving her a slight percentage of his attention, most of which was stirring the sleeping curse in his hands.

"That isn't reassuring." Regina positioned her head on the center pillow and tried to make herself as comfortable as possible.

"Regina, you don't have to do this, there has to be another way." Snow tried to lay a comforting hand on Regina's but she moved it.

"What other follyful option would you suggest?" She answered with an edge of irritation to her voice.

"There's no need to snap at me, she's my daughter if you've forgotten."

"Yes but you aren't the one entering a sleeping death to rescue her."

"Why would you do that? Why would you leave Henry and risk never waking up again to save her?"

"I wish I knew but all I can say is I won't tell Henry his mother died because of me. He would want her with him and if Rumpelstiltskin is correct she is living with my demons, a curse she doesn't deserve. At least this way, I will be facing up to the problems I created."

"Thank you." Snow was sincere and this time embraced Regina with no regard for her squirming.

"Good luck." Charming added as an after note.

Rumple finished the final prep on the potion as Regina laid her head back. She fluffed the pillow under her head and busied herself with trivial tasks. She closed her eyes and waited. She was reminded that if one dies during the dream, they are in fact dead, not even true loves kiss could save them then.

"This isn't your typical sleeping curse. Instead of a void or burning waiting room you will have a destination, you will be able to move freely and fell as if you are awake with all the consequences that come with it but if you are in the state for too long your will start to lose function in your body and there will be no bringing you back. Do not be fooled you will feel as you do now but you are in fact asleep." He sat on the opposite edge of the bed and gave the vile a final shake as Regina nodded her acknowledgment.

Rumple quickly poured the bottles contents into her mouth. The curse would take immediate affect, Regina held tightly to the mirror Rumple had given her knowing anything connected to her skin would appear in the dream state. As the blue tinted liquid made contact with her stomach, the sweet taste burned up her throat and her limbs began to shake. The pitch black of her vision gave way to spinning. She could make out colors and blurry shapes but she was falling. She could feel the wind whip her hair back and the cold air bite at her skin.

She continued to fall, the colors changing the longer she fell. It had been silent even the sound of rushing wind was absent. She could hear her own breathing. The silence was the first to come to an abrupt halt, then soon after her vision cleared and she recognized her surroundings. She had expected fire and brimstone with flames dancing about at her feet as the rock caverns around her glowed with evil but she wasn't anywhere resembling her expectations. She was in Storybrooke. More specifically she was in the beginning of it. Before Emma had come charging into her life, before the monotony of her day was severed and she felt the first sparkles of a life beyond. The room changed again from the street of Storybrooke.

When Regina came to again, it was in the most awkward of fashions, peacefully. She felt as if nothing had changed and by some chance of luck the entire scenario where Emma went missing wasn't real at all, perhaps a weary dream. That feeling was quickly eradicated as soon as sat up. She was still surprised it wasn't a room of monstrous flames or brimestone, the very cartooned version of hell she pictured. A familiarity gripped her senses and she realized she had in fact been in this very room before, if she was actually there or if this was an illusion she had no idea. She instinctively looked into the mirror in her hand and shook it but when Rumple didn't answer immediately, she knew she was on her own, lied to once again. She turned it over and read the inscription aloud.

"H_yperephania_, O_rge_ ,Zéloó " As the words left her lips she looked up to inspect her environment.

The walls were sterile and decorated with what she could only deem, garage sale art. A supposedly comforting teal paint covered the walls and badly upholstered chairs lined the walls. She remembered this waiting room. It was in the children's ward of Boston hospital. She had only ever been here once before, with Henry and of course Emma. She looked around at the vacant room and wonder how she could possibly be here. Had Rumple lied and send her to the past or was she all together losing her mind? As she looked down, she cursed the God-y mirror she had left the castle with. She gazed into the looking glass but only saw her ragged reflection. The bags under her eyes had become more apparent over the last few years. Every since she and the rest of Storybrooke had been forced back to the Enchanted Forest after the trigger destroyed their quaint town. She wasn't sure how they had all come to survive but there wasn't much time to ponder it. They had all been dropped smack dab in the middle of another raging Ogre war.

Current affairs aside she stood up and touched the walls, the grainy rough edges furthered her recollection of this place. When she had been here before, Henry had a severe case of the flu and she had sat with her head against these walls as they slowly made intents in her skin. She ran the pads of her left index finger along the grain but didn't flinch as it left small white cuts through her fingerprints.

"The walls can't be that interesting." A voice startled her in what she thought was an empty room. When Regina looked up she was greeted with a small frail woman of eighty. A massive bun of silver and white hair balanced effortlessly on the crown of her head. She was dressed in a nurses outfit but one clearly out dated. She could have passed for a nurse on the front lines of World War I. It was cut off just below her knees and was a pristine white. She place her warm palm on Regina's shoulder and met her with a smile.

"You are just on time, my dear." Regina cringed as the older woman used her favorite pet name on her.

"What exactly am I on time for?" Regina straightened her posture.

"Come with me, there isn't much time." She gently lead Regina by the elbow to the next room, an examination room. It was strangely arranged with a chair facing a large empty wall and nothing else.

"Who exactly are you?"

"You may call me Hadie. Now take a seat." Her voice was velvety and sweet like a grandmother she had never know. Regina complied and sat in the rigid chair. As her hand draped over the edge of the arm rests, cuffs appeared and secured her wrists to the chair.

"What is going on?" She franticly tried to pull her wrists up and jostle herself free. Her eyes were wide as the light began to dim around her and the wall she was facing came to life. Images played before her eyes, ones ripped from her own memory. Hadie was nowhere to be found and the images before her started to cave in on her. She was suddenly within what she was seeing.

"It's best not to struggle." Hadie's voice echoed in her ears.

"I demand to know what is happening?!" Regina could feel the panic bubble up under her skin. She hadn't even taken the time to realize what she was seeing or more accurately where she was now.

She could see people rush around her all kicking up dust in their wakes, every one of them frantic in their movements. The entire town had come to see what was happening. As the ashy air cleared she realized exactly where she was , the old mine shafts. As she picked herself up, she saw the scene play out from a far. She remembered it as she watched it before her eyes like a movie. She saw herself, staunchly clad in her best mayoral outfit, arguing with Emma. Why was she reliving the day Henry almost died? Was this part of her hell, to relive her nightmares?

"No that's not how this works, well not entirely." Hadie answered her question as if she hadn't thought it but let it slip from her lips.

"How did you..why am I seeing this?" Regina continued to struggle against her restraints.

"It can't be as strange as you are making it seem. You have come to take a soul back from the depths, have you not? Foolish girl. You will not make it out of this intact, my child. As for Emma, well a picture is worth a thousand words." Hadie's appearance began to swirl into a white mist that promptly burst into flames. Her image was replaced with what she deemed the current Emma. In front of her as if she could reach out and touch her. She was crouched on all fours, a mop of tangled blonde hair covering her face. As she lifted her head, Regina was met with bloodshot eyes. She was covered in soot, a trail of blood tinkering down her temple.

"Emma?" Regina's voice startled her as if she could hear her in what ever far off dungeon housed her. She strained to stand and pulled on her wrists with such force her flesh ripped under her restraints.

"Do I even have to say that she can't hear you?" A woman of no more than 30 stood before her now. Her dress left nothing of her legs to the imagination. She was exquisite, raven hair and piercing emerald eyes. A corset hugged an hourglass figure, only accentuated by the incredibly tight binds.

"Who are you?" Regina snarled.

"It's much too early for you to be losing your mind but to save further discussion, it's Hadie." The woman winked at Regina and puckered her lips ever so slightly to blow a kiss in her direction. "It's best if you get used to my costume changes. It's more fun this way, never know what you're going to get. Now pay close attention."

Regina hadn't noticed that all of the players in the scene before her had paused for Hadie's light show. As Hadie stepped to the side, Regina once again saw herself reacting to the news of her son's predicament. The Emma from this time seemed so different from the one she had come to know. Here she was so broken, fragements of failed promises and years of loneliness combined with anger. Each and every battle she had wadges to survive etched into her face. The sun beat down with a vengeance as Regina's counter self screamed.

"You're making it worse!"

"I am trying to save him, you know why he went in there in the first place don't you?! Because you made him feel like he had something to prove."

She listened as she fought with Emma over a matter she realized now was absurd. They never should have argued, it should have been about Henry, every second of it but instead she let herself slip farther and farther into her pride. Hadie leaned on Regina's shoulder and whispered a sticky sweet melody. Only one word circled in her ears. _Huburis._

_ "_I must admit, I do love how stubborn you are." Hadie was suddenly in front of her like a swift wind. She slinked toward Regina each leg bending and lifting over the other like a dance. She placed each of her hands on the sides of Regina's chair and leaned in. Her breath on Regina's face felt like fire.

" You're an intelligent woman, are you starting to catch on." Hadie searched Regina's confused eyes only to receive a shake of her head as a response. "Well I do suppose it's still early in the show. Next."

Their surroundings once again disintegrated to be replaced by another familiar place. The granite counters and immaculate state of her kitchen weren't to be confused. She could smell the scent of her oasis linger as if she were really there. A false comfort at the least. Hadie gracefully pulled herself onto the counter and waited as a past Regina tinkered around the kitchen, paying extra close attention to the oven. The unmistakable sound of the doorbell carried her attention elsewhere.

"Why are we reliving the past?" Regina demanded

"Why not? There are so many things to learn from the past." Hadie sat, legs crossed, on a newly appearing chair next to her. " Oh pay attention, this is the good part." The scene started again.

"Regina, whatever this is between us, it has to stop." Emma's words rang through the mansions high ceiling. Regina watched herself and saw the expression her past self had worn as Emma expressed a very clear sentiment.

"I can't believe you didn't see it then." Hadie tease. "She was oh so very blunt about it. Then again you are rather clueless sometimes."

"What is all of this about?!" Regina was becoming infuriated at this point, still trying to shimmy out of her bindings.

"You want all the answers laid out for you, dont you? I'm showing you where you went wrong, where everything could have changed."

"Why have you only shown me my memories of Emma? I've done so many terrible things and you show me bickering with her. You've clearly lost it."

"You really have no idea do you? You've atoned for most of your evil actions but the worst in life is the unrequited and she is well...keep watching"

The picture show in front of her came alive again but it speed up. Small fragments of interactions with Emma parade before her eyes. Vivid memories played like a silent film before her and her jaw slacked. She saw how her eyes changed when she spoke to her and the tightening of her shoulders when she brushed past her. It wasn't just her though. Emma was different over the course of the movie flickering in her eyes. Regina saw the moments she hadn't before, the second before they made eye contact and the moment after Regina left. She saw how her guard dropped and sadness set in.

She relived Neverland and the reliance they had on each other, the small comfort of an alley and a partner. She saw the face Emma made when she first conquered her magic with Regina's help. There was no order to the chaos or chronology to the images. The only commonality was Emma, every single one of them was a moment they had shared. The images before her started to shift to moments she had never known about. She saw Snow's apartment with its eclectic decor and her skin shivered. Emma was pacing rigidly through the kitchen, arms crossed and frowning. Snow and Charming were seated at the counter.

"No, I won't do that to her, she is his mother. She picked up the pieces when I walked away and she has saved us all so many times. If we go back to the Enchanted Forest, she comes with or Henry and I stay. Whether you want to admit it or not, she's family." Emma was so worked up her cheeks were crimson and eyes bloodshot.

She had defended Regina and never intended to leave her to fend for herself. The dark hairs on Regina's arms lifted to attention and her chest began to constrict. She felt the faint sensation of lips on her cheek and the warmth of another behind her but when she turned her head, no one was there. Even Hadie was off to her side.

"Why did she act like she wanted to leave?" Regina said aloud more for her benefit than as a question. Before she could ask another question, the scene changed again and she saw her front door and a small fist pounding on it. The 108 on her pristine ivory door was unmistakable. The door flung open and Regina recalled the day immediately. Emma had asked to take her and Henry out to dinner. She remembered the sincere look in her eyes, the want and need to feel close to them both but she had laughed. She had laughed in her face and said she must be mad. Regina didn't realize it at the time but as soon as she slammed the door in Emma's face, a tear gathered in her eye.

"You're making this up, there's no way you could know what happened after I was gone. Yes you might have access to my memories but these would have to have been Emma's"

"I don't have to lie when the truth already does what I need it to and if you recall Emma is here as well so the bank of her memories is indeed mine."

"And what do you need the truth to do?" Regina's voice was strained, she was holding back emotions she wasn't sure how to categorize.

"Most truths are there to help people find something they have been missing, this is no different." Hadie moved closer to the images and touched Emma's face. " Funny the ones she picked for you to see"

"Emma pic..." Regina was interrupted by the changing of her surroundings again. This time she was somewhere she had only ever seen once. There were few knick knacks and only two picture frames. The bedding was a cotton floral print that she knew wasn't Emma's choice, clearly it had Snow's sensibilities. The morning light trickled in through the curtains and she saw a figure stir under the covers. She didn't remember why she had ended up in Emma's room but she had and it surprised her how simple she lived, how unattached. It didn't occur to Regina at the time but it made her jealous, the ability to run any which direction she wanted at any time. She pulled herself from her thoughts and watched the Emma of this memory she never seen stir. A knock on the door was met with an angry huff.

"Go away" Emma mumbled in her chest

"Come on Ems, it can't be that bad. Is she really worth all this heartache?" Rubies voice echoed through the other side of the door. She waited a beat and turned the knob to find a very disheveled Emma laying on her stomach, head buried in the pillows. When she heard Ruby enter she turned her head and arched her brow.

"Has the meaning of 'Go away' changed or do you have a death wish?"

"Wow you even sound like her. Crazy what a crush can do." She sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs under her.

"Shhhh dammit Ruby my parents are here and the last thing I need is to explain something to them that I don't even understand." Emma turned her head back into the pillows and with her left hand threw a stray one at Ruby. "Do you think love can kill you?" Emma turned her head and laid her cheek on the pile of pillows.

"I think it can make you feel like you are dying. Emma just tell Regina, the worst that could happen is she is pissed and won't talk to you but at least it'll be off your chest"

"No the worst that could happen is she could quite literally throw a fire ball at me!" Ruby chuckled as Emma groaned in frustration.

Regina tried her damnedest not to acknowledge what they were talking about but it was becoming rather clear what 'hidden truth' she was suppose to uncover. Little did Regina know her current Emma was seeing all of the images that she was and more importantly Regina's reactions to them. She was the invisible entity in the room that Regina felt on her shoulder. The 'ghost' that kept the hairs on Regina's arms prickled. She was the whisper in her ear that told her she had know all along.

"Hadie why am I seeing these now? If she's gone what good are these doing?"

"I can't answer that, not now. There's just one more you must see, but know there are hundreds of moments like these. Moments she hide." Hadie waved her hand threw the air and she was once again in Rumples castle but still strapped to the chair.

The golden tapestries hung from every corner and dust danced in the air as Rumple flipped through an obscure magic text, its pages practically disintegrating in his hands. He was deep in thought clearly looking for a particular spell. Emma barged in slamming the door in a very 'Emma Swan' way. Rumple didn't even turn to speak to her, knowing full well who it was without even having to turn around

"I assume you have a purpose for barging in on me while I'm working?" Rumple's voice was irritated.

"I need your help, I hate to have to ask but I do" Emma was out of breath and it occurred to Regina that she was wearing the last outfit she had seen her in right before she disappeared.

"Of course, no one wants the Dark One around but everyone needs Rumpelstiltskin's help. What catastrophe have you gotten yourself into now? Let me guess can't live without indoor pluming and the internet. Well I can't help you there, this is the Enchanted Forest after all." He continued to search through his book

"Damn can't you just listen and not be a jerk for a second"

"That's a surefire way to attain my help, insult me."

"Listen, Gold. We're fighting a losing battle here and if anything happens to Henry or my parents or …I just need to be able to protect them. Is there anything you can give me to keep them safe?"

"Tell me who that last 'or' is dearie and I'll consider it." He finally looked up from the manuscript and stared right through her with his lips curled up to his ears.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You have a secret that's eating you alive. I can see it all over your face and unless you say it aloud, I won't help you. Tell me." He stood and sauntered eerily close to her humming under his breath.

"How do I know you will help me?"

"You don't, but what are your other options?"

Emma stared at him with the same intensity he did her, never letting her eyes waiver. She forced her eyes not to blink and they stung crying our for a reprieve. Rumple's smile widened and his gloating became too much to bare.

"What good is my secret to you? I assume you already know what it is or you wouldn't be getting as much pleasure from this as you are."

"I always know the answers to the questions I pose and this particular answer is of greater importance than you realize." Though she thought it impossible, Rumple moved closer. She swallowed hard and gathered her courage to say what she hadn't even admitted to herself.

"I'm in love with Reg-." Each word escaped her lips softer than the last.

"You'll need to speak up dearie."

"IM IN LOVE WITH REGINA!" She couldn't believe the taste truth left in her mouth. Rumple smiled and walked past her to pick up the book he had been perusing.

"See that wasn't so difficult was it?"

Regina was so pulled into the scene before her she didn't fight the tears that were piling on the rimes of her eyes. She had stopped fighting against her restraints and let Emma's words sink in. She let them ache. Had she been so clueless, so wrapped up that she had missed the clear signs? Looking back on their interactions she could see the building affection in Emma's eyes. It was so obvious and sincere but all Regina had seen all these years was a threat. Emma's voice brought her back to the present picture show.

"I thought you were going to help me?"

Rumple pointed to a purple vile on the edge of his desk, turning his attention to his book once again. Emma stared at him for a beat before picking up the purple liquid that glowed when her fingers made contact with the bottle.

"How could you have this already? How did you even know I would need your help?"

"You forget, I was a seer in another life. Drink that and you will be able to save a loved one in a moment of peril."

"What's the catch?"

"Ah yes straight to business. This potion will let you save someone from certain death but you cannot chose who. Your heart will chose and when it does you will take their place to where they were destined. It's a steep price but a hefty reward as well." Rumple studied her features closely. Emma's hands shook, the glowing liquid shining through her fingers. She uncorked the vile and swallowed the potion before she could fully think of the consequences.

"NOO," Regina let out a scream, lunging for her. Regina smacked into the ground with a thud, the chair smacking into her back as she made contact. Every moment had played out before her as if each person were in the room with her but as she went to touch Emma, she slide through her like a shadow.

She continued to watch as Emma ran from the room and straight to where she had meet her that morning. She watched as she suited up in a plate of armor and kissed her father and mothers cheeks, knowing there was a very real chance she would be taking one of their places today. She wore a surprisingly brave face despite her reckless decision. The smile she had given Regina before they stepped out to fight the Ogres had taken her by surprise in its warmth that morning but now it resonated with so much more.

The entire battle replayed itself and she saw how many times Emma had defended her and fought off peril but she also knew there was on coming that she couldn't fight off. Regina wept as she saw herself be stabbed and Emma suddenly disappear behind her. She expected the scene to continue and for her to see herself running to Rumple's but instead she saw Emma wake in the same waiting room she had woken in earlier. Emma followed Hadie into the same room she was being held in and strapped to the same chair. Regina franticly looked around her hoping to see Emma emerge from the walls. The story around her continued. Emma watched Regina run for help and take the sleeping potion. She watched Emma watch her and the circle of images dizzied her mind. Finally without warning the images went blank. The same institutional white that enveloped the room before returned. Only this time she was alone.

"Hadie?"

The silence continued. The sound of an old time projector turned in her mind and a small image showed on the white walls as if a mirror was situated in the back of the room. She saw herself strapped to the chair and a figure standing beside her. She turned to her right and saw Emma standing just above her, same warm smile as she had offered her on the battle field.

"Emma?" Regina's voice pleaded.

"Never thought you'd want to see me again. Not after everything you just saw." Emma knelled and placed her palm on Regina's hand.

"Are you really here?" Regina's fear finally showing through her armor. Emma untied Regina's restraints and she stood, never taking her eyes off of her. Emma let a moment pass and raised Regina's hand to her chest placing it gently above her breasts.

"Can you feel it beat?"

"Yes."

"Regina there is something I need to tell you."

"No please don't. I might not be able to say it back."

Emma's face fell to Regina's hand on her chest and the sadness that had lingered around the corners of her eyes filled them fully. She raised Regina's free hand and placed their hands palm to palm. A small white light traced the outline of their hands and traveled up Regina's arm to her heart. It was as if a sweet molten healing began in her, taking over each darkened corner of her heart and resuscitated it. She was feeling the full power of Emma's love.

"I can feel your heart. How can you love me that much?" Regina questioned

"It's easy really."

"I...I"

"You don't have to say it, I'm attached to your heart right now. I can feel it."

Suddenly the warmth of Emma's presence in her heart disappeared and peeled from her skin. She had never felt so incomplete in her life. Her chest heaved and she cried out in greater pain than she had ever felt. She looked around the room, searching for anything that could explain what was happening.

"Hadie? Hadie?! What is going on?"

"Look in the mirror."

Regina saw what she thought she had lost forever. Emma was running as fast as her legs would take her to Rumple's castle much like she had earlier in the day. Time was a fickle thing in a sleep curse and she wondered how so much had pasted while she only felt seconds, agonizing seconds. She looked to the mirror again and watched another life play out, one in which Emma had been the one left behind and Regina had sacrificed herself.

"Don't lie to me old man! I know you know how to bring Regina back. I thought you cared about her, didn't you teach her magic in the first place?!"

"Clearly I don't care about her nearly as much as you do. But how much wonder? Tell me dearie, do you love her?"

Emma hesitated, she knew it was a crime to love as she did, at least in this forsaken world it was. She moved her gaze from Rumpelstiltskin and focused on the wall covered in pots and pans behind him.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters more than you know. If you truly love her then you will be willing to pay the price to bring her back and it's a step one at that."

"Yes, I love her. She sacrificed her soul for mine. She traded her days for me and I have to find a way to bring her back. What is the price?

"Your second born."

"How do you even know I'll have more children?"

"If you've forgotten, I can glimpse into the future. Comes in handy now and then. Now do we have a deal?"

"What would you want with my child?" Emma's brow furrowed.

"None of your concern. Sign the dotted line and you'll soon be on the journey to rescue your beloved." A large parchment appeared from nowhere; covered in ink scribbles. X marked the spot as Emma took the pen from Rumple's hand and made their deal official.

"How do I save her?"

"You have to go to the depths of hell."

"I don't have time for jokes?"

"Who's joking?" Rumple said gleefully. Emma's face turned white and terror gripped her gut.

Regina felt her binding loosen and her feet began to run. She felt the sweet collect on her hair line and her breathing was labored. Regina finally laid her eyes on Emma. Her Emma, the one she had felt in the white room, the one she should have felt all along. She wasn't sure how long she'd been traveling or if she could even remember her life before her quest. Every move she made was in pursuance of paying a debt and saving a soul. All of the thoughts she had pushed to the back of her mind for years, were no longer hidden and it was so very apparent that after decades of running she had been ready to love after all . She just didn't realize it until she was already in love. That was what had driven her when she couldn't name the push or give Snow an explanation for her willing haste to visit the very depths of hell to retrieve Emma. Emma didn't step closer as Regina did. She was skeptical and cloistered with her movements.

The cavern had come to a close around where she huddled. The rock walls dripped with water through their crevices. The heat of the journey had turned terribly cold. Regina tried to call out but couldn't hear her own voice; it was drowned out by anothers. This was the hell she had always invisioned.

"I won't be fooled." Emma screamed.

"This is not a trick, Emma, it's me." Regina started to reach her hand out but thought better of it.

"That's what they all have said. Each and every one of you have said the exact same thing. They say 'I'm here to save you Emma just take my hand' and every time I do I go farther and farther into the darkness." Emma continued to huddle in the corner and brought her knees up to her chest. Her eyes were piercing in their fear.

"I'm not here to save you." Regina surprised herself with her answer. She had indeed originally planned to save Emma but now here in the depths of her own destruction she understood something.

"You can save yourself. I'm here because I have a question for you?" Regina was telling the truth she just didn't know it yet.

"You are an illusion,I can't save myself. I don't even know how long I've been down here." She began to cry. The indestructible, unshakable Emma Swan wept with the fear she had been bottling up for longer than her stay here.

"Yes you can. Now my question. Why did your heart choose me to save?" Regina moved closer and knelled. She wasn't thinking anymore she just needed to close the distance between them. Emma sucked in air quickly and shuttered. She stopped abruptly and stared straight into Regina's eyes.

"You came all the way through a literal hell, every single one of your demons and you still don't know why?" Emma's reddened face began to come back to it's normal pale complexion as a haunting chuckle escaped her lips. " Now I know you are the real Regina. Always blind to what is right in front of you. Why does anyone save someone, sacrificing themselves? Some for mislead bravery but most because of love." Whatever weakened state Emma might have been in, she was fully in control of herself now.

"What are you saying?" Regina was now the one losing control.

"Stop it. Stop fighting me Regina. I can't say it much plainer. I gave my soul for yours, I am in love with you . I don't know how or when or why but dammit Regina Mills, I love you and that's not me going crazy. That's me admitting what I wish I could have been brave enough to say to you in life. Maybe if I had we wouldn't be in this position." Emma was stone serious. Regina began to laugh.

"You're mother is going to kill me when she finds out."

The feeling of destitute that had settled into her bones since entering this place suddenly lifted with ease. She had felt Regina's lips linger inches from hers but never felt them fully. She suddenly knew what she had to do to ave them both. She had closed her eyes to enjoy the moment but when the blessed collision never arrived, she opened them again to find herself in the field that she had been fighting the Ogres off in. She franticly pulled herself to a standing position and ran for Rumples castle. The ground below her feet was mud laden and made her feet sink. She sloshed through the barren terrain and lifted her heavy leg with each burdened step. Time was ticking away for Regina and she had to get to her before the sleeping curse was irreversible. She wasn't even sure time was her greatest obstacle. There was no guarantee the love in her heart was that of true love.

Emma couldn't further burden herself with what ifs. She would try none the less. The mud came up to her calves and the splatter left on her face and hands dried in the hot air. As soon as she made it past the bog, she ran with all of the energy she had left through the giant doors of Rumple's castle. He was waiting on the steps for her, dangling his feet over the railing like a child.

"You're too late."

"Bull shit." She pushed past him and headed up the staircase. She could hear him chuckling as she bounded up the steps two at a time. She had no idea which direction Regina would be in but her feet seemed to find the way. She followed the ill lit corridors that hadn't seen human life in decades, past overt statues and grand book shelves. She checked every door and landing she found herself on until her fingers stopped before turning a silver door knob. Regina was behind this door, she was certain but why did she hesitate.

If she truly was too late, then a rigid Regina with ice cold skin lay behind this door but if she wasn't and Emma managed to bring her back, everything would change. She wasn't much for sentiment or indecision but this trumped all of her previous experience. Henry needs his mother both of them and if she could love Regina like she deserved to be, well then there was no saying what they would be capable of together.

"Are you going to wait all day." Rumple slither up behind her and hissed in her ear. Her shoulder twitched at the invasion of her personal space but didn't turn to acknowledge him. The cold metal of the door knob fit snugly in her palm. The hallway was so silent, the twist of the gears in the knob were audible, even her breath was held. The dark wood door crackled as she slowly swung it open.

Laying ethereally on the master bed, Regina looked like she slumbered in peace. Her hands were folded over one another and placed on her stomach. Her chest didn't rise and fall. Emma moved quickly to her side but once again hesitated before picking up Regina's hand. The tips of her fingers were cold but her palms still beat with the warmth of life. Emma had forgotten how untainted by years Regina's hand were, silky to the touch but strong in manner. Her gaze moved to Regina's face, though she knew she must be in turmoil, her features were relaxed and a sweep of her bangs covered the arch of her eye brow. Emma wanted so badly to touch her face, to frame it for her memory.

"Well are you going to kiss her?" Rumple stood amused.

"You said it was too late?"

"I say a great many things, it doesn't make them true." He grinned his sinister grin. Emma's face paled and her gaze shot back to Regina. She inhaled a calming breath quickly but held it when her lungs reached their capacity. She slowly whistled out the breath; feeling the cold tinge of the air on her lips. She was done hesitating. Her hands shook but she lowered her lips closer to Regina's nonetheless . She didn't bring herself to Regina's lips right away but instead dipped her head next to hers as her thumb rubbed circles in the back of Regina's hand. Her next words were said too low for Rumple to hear.

"I don't know if this is going to work, but know I do love you. As scary as that is to say, I absolutely love you."

Emma raised her head and placed her forehead against Regina's, she breathed in her smell and let it revitalize her. She had forgotten just how intoxicating her skin smelt, with its hint of spice. She took one last deep breath and let the small ridges of her lower lip take the still lips of her loves. It was depth of chance that she felt most, a history and future in a moment of fear. She felt the lingering warmth of Regina's spirit on her lips and she held the kiss for a moment longer.

She expected to feel a movement on the other end of the kiss but didnt. She waited a bit longer and nothing. She didnt want to believe that she had failed, that Regina had slipped away for good all to save her, like she had intended to save Regina in the first place. She wasn't a crier but her tears had a mind of their own, creeping to the brim of her eye lids and tasting of salt as they trailed to her mouth. All the while Emma didn't lift her head from the embrace she had created with Regina, her face buried in her hair, trying to get lost in what was left of her.

"Emma, you did all you could." She was startled by the sound of her mother's voice coming from the doorway. Her father was positioned in his usual stance of submission behind her, equally concerned.

"I didn't do anything at all!" Emma's lept up from Regina's side, her eyes bloodshot. "I failed and instead of protecting her, she's dead. If only I would have told her earlier, maybe things could be different." Emma returned to Regina's side and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry."

Snow held out her arms to her daughter as she placed Regina's hand back on her stomach and swept her bangs behind her ear. She didn't want to leave her but Henry needed to know before anyone else. At the thought of having to tell Henry, she broke down, kneeling with the weight of the day. Her tears pooled in her hands, her parents began to huddle around her but she pushed them off.

"No please don't. Can I have a moment please?" Emma didn't raise her head as she replied. Her mother looked hurt but complied, taking Charming's hand in her own and leaving. Emma let the grief that bit at the edges of her mind flow inward. She clutched her skin and let her nails rip her flesh to feel anything that wasn't this pain. Her chest was heaving as she tried to brace herself.

"Emma?" A whisper from behind her put all of her anguish on pause as she turned on her heels to see if she was hearing from beyond the grave. But there in her full glory was Regina with her head turned to the side, her body still perfectly still. Emma leap to her feet and stopped just shy of Regina's side. She didn't hide the tears on her face or the hope in her eyes.

"What took you so long?" Emma didn't take a step closer.

"I did have to venture back from the depths of hell if you recall." She managed a sweet smile. Emma returned her smile and quickly sat next to her on the bed. She placed a hand on either side of her and moved within inches of Regina's face.

"You ever scare me like that again, the depths of hell will be the least of your problems." Emma smiled and leaned in teasingly slow finally feeling the life behind Regina's kiss.

"It's about damn time." Rumple interrupted the sincere moment with his cackling voice. " I've only be foreseeing the greatest true love in history for the last 300 years, do forgive me if I had to take matters into my own hands and help it happen."

"What are you talking about?' Regina asked

"You didn't think you actually went to the depths of hell did you? How precious, you did. As strong as you may think you are, death is death and there is no coming back from that at least not intact. I devised a little plan to help you both see the completely obvious trajectory of your lives. I'm not a patient man and you two were infuriatingly slow on the up take."

"You bastard! You put us through all of that for your amusement!" Emma lunged at him, Regina grabbing her just before she swung at him.

"You're not listening, you really are perfect for each other. Regina hasn't listened to me since day one. I brought you together or more literally you saw what you had been missing this whole time. I have foreseen the effect of the greatest love bringing happy endings to all the land since I received the power but it hadn't been clear who until we came back to the Enchanted Forest. My happy ending is included in that so you might say my motivations were selfish, if that's easier for you to swallow."

Emma and Regina looked at each other dumb founded and in the slight moment they had taken their attention off of Rumple, he disappeared.

"This is a lot to process. We know I would die for you but how do we do this day to day?" Emma asked sheepishly.

"We start over. Hi, I'm Regina, it's very nice to meet you Emma." Regina stuck her hand out. Instead of returning the shake, Emma grabbed her face and kissed her fiercely and for the first time Regina melted into the embrace.

"How about we start here." Emma said into Regina's lips. Segina shook her head in agreement, not ready to break the kiss just yet.

Fin


End file.
